Re'eh - Execution
"You shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have comanded you." Deuteronomy 12:21
Action
has two components. First, we must weigh all our alternatives and
decide what to do. This requires investigation and
contemplation. Decisions that are more complex or more important
generally deserve more time and effort than other decisions.
After the decision process comes the second step, and that is executing
the decision. The Gemorrah in Chulin gives us valuable advice on
this second step, the execution of a decision..
Chulin deals
with a different kind of execution, the slaughtering of animals in
order to eat them. Before one eats domestic animals, such as a
cow or a sheep, it must be 'executed' in a very proscribed way, and if
there are any deviations from this way, the animal has not been
slaughtered correctly and becomes 'traif', or unkosher, and cannot be
eaten by a Jew.
The Gemorrah specifically mentions five aspects
of the 'scheetah', slaughtering, that must be rigorously
observed. This is obviously extremelly important for a
'schochate', or ritual slaughterer to know, or for a rabbi who checks
his work. But we can learn a great deal from understanding these
things to be avoided, beause they apply to how we 'execute' our own
decisions in business or our daily lives.
Specificallly,
the slaughterer must quickly and cleanly cut the majority of both the
wind and food pipes in the animal's throat. Here are the five
aspects of 'execution' that are to be avoided, in slaughtering an
animal or in executing our own decisions:
HESITATION - The
slaughterer has do the action quickly without hesitation. If he
cuts one of pipes and then hesitates before cutting the other pipe, the
action is invalid and the animal becomes 'traif'. Likewise, when
we execute a decision, we must do it quickly and decisively, without
hesitating midway through it. Executing part of the decision, and
then waiting to do the rest is a flaw that any businessman can tell you
is injurious to getting things done.
INCOMPLETE - The
slaughterer must cut the majority of both the wind and food
pipes. If he only cuts one, or the major part of either one is
not cut, the slaughtering is invalid. Similarly, when we execute
a decision, we must do it completely, and not just halfway. If
we've decided on the correctness of a certain action, we must carry out
our whole decision. A part we leave out could be essentail to the
whole action.
RIPPING - The slaughterer's knife must be sharp
and smooth without any nicks, because the pipes must be sliced cleanly
without any ripping.. This is why the slaughterer routinesly runs his
finger over the knife checking for nicks. We also use tools in
executing decisions, and must make sure they are in top shape and won't
prevent us from executing the decision cleanly and smoothly.
PRESSING
- If the slaughterer just presses hard on the pipes until they are cut,
the slaughtering also in invalid. The pipes must be 'sliced' with
one steady sweeping motion, not a slow, pressing motion. We learn
from this that being decisive means more than just slowly pushing to
get the action done. We must act quickly in a sweeping move.
HIDING
- The slaughterer's knife must be visible from the beginning of the
slaughtering process, and can't be hidden, let's say, in the folds or
wool of the animal. The wielding of the knife must be plain to
see, and not come from a place hidden close to the animal. We
learn from this the important principle that all our actions, in
implementing a decision; must be above board and not sneaky. Our
tools for carrying out our plans in business or daily life should be
plain to see and not used in a surrupticious manner.
Anyone
experienced in executing decisions will tell you these are crucial
rules in doing whatever we do. Of couse, we should weigh
carefully our options, and take as much time in deciding the
appropriate action as necessary. But when we are ready to act, we
should act quickly, completely, and decisively, using tools that are
without defects and open to view.